Florence wary as MTV's 'Jersey Shore' hits town

Florence offered a cold welcome to the Italian-American cast of the expletive-laden MTV television show "Jersey Shore" as they arrived in the genteel Italian city on Friday to film a new season. City authorities have made it clear that scenes of public drunkenness by the famously hard-partying protagonists of the hit show will not be tolerated and have barred access to some of Italy's most cherished monuments. "We needed to have some general rules on behaviour in place. US universities with study centres here are not very happy. They're afraid people will start drinking too much," said a spokeswoman for Florence city council. Italian media have reported that the reality show's cast will work in a pizzeria called "O'Vesuvio" in the centre of Florence and rent a luxury home a stone's throw from the Renaissance masterpiece Piazza del Duomo. The arrival of the protagonists was announced on the website of MTV Italy. Cristina Scaletti, a culture and tourism official for the Tuscany region which includes Florence, said ahead of the arrival that their presence was "inopportune" adding that the show was "a eulogy to pulp and trash". "Jersey Shore" could encourage adolescents "to believe that the emptiness and the suffering of the soul without culture, knowledge and memory can be filled with muscles and silicone," she wrote in La Repubblica daily. The eight protagonists of the hit show have helped reinforce American stereotypes about Italians as brash loudmouths who use too much hair gel. But Beppe Severgnini, a columnist for Corriere della Sera, said viewers could be surprised when the show come into contact with actual Italian culture. "The eight most famous yobs in America are arriving in the most refined city in Italy and perhaps in the world," said the well-known journalist and author, who has written books about perceptions of Italians overseas. He drew a comparison between 15th century Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli's Venus and Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, a character from the show, saying: "They both have Italian blood but they are not very similar." Comparing Florence to previous locations New Jersey and Florida he said the city was "more ancient, famous and delicate," adding: "If the 'Jersey Shore' guys do what has made them famous there will be trouble."